8.4 Developing Technologies

DIGITAL

Digital TV is when audio and video content are sent digitally to peoples homes so that they can watch films and television programs, the images that appear on your screen are in high quality, along side with high quality sound.. There is a range of examples of companies that do this, such as Sky and Virgin, because they produce a wide range of films and TV programs, that are digitally sent to peoples devices. The audience members that use this have a variety of shows to watch, but because of this their could be a lot of repeats, which can get annoying to some people, as they might not have anything to watch, yet there are so many channels, which makes them think that they waste their money for paying for channels that they do not even like. By getting digital TV the audience can get better quality sound and images when they watch TV. The institution can get more money when people pay extra to receive HD on their TVs, which can lead to them being a bigger company.

SATELLITE  

This is when a company gives a household a satellite, which is a type of system of television which uses signals to receive content, the satellites can send signals which go to space, that then go directly back to the satellite, then straight to your home. An example of this is the company Sky, who make satellites for their users, so that they can receive hundreds of channels on their TVs, and they also don't even have to pay a subscription to use it, but one thing that could be difficult is that it has to be set up properly, or it wont work, but they usually have someone to do it for you, which is convenient for the audience. By doing all this, the institutions audience expands even more, which leads to more money going to the institution. Even though they get a lot of money from their audience, the institution still has to pay a lot of money for the equipment for the technology that they use.

CABLE

Cable is when a household orders a wire, and gets someone to install it for them, and when it installed the wire runs underground and signals to multiple devices, so that they can access TV and internet. Companies such as TalkTalk offer a variety of programs, such as Freeview, sky arts and more, and they all provide their TV services through cable wires. Just like digital TV, they have a variety of shows to watch, but they charge more for the audience. Having so many shows on. means that not every show will be interesting, and you will waste your money for having to pay for shows that you wont even watch. When a cable wire stops working, the whole area has their cable stop working, which could be a problem for both the audience, and the institution, since it will take a while to fix all the cables, and these wires cost a lot of money to put up, which again makes the audience feel like they are wasting money.

INTERACTIVE

 

This is when you have a red button on your remote which you can press, by doing this it allows you to receive extra content on your TV, by using the red button, it lets you be able to get extra content, such as being able cut through events, being able to play games and more. Examples of companies that do this are Sky news and BBC news, because they all allow you to use the red button. By being able to use the red button, the audience can access all the good free extra content through their TVs and they have more choice of what to do with their TVs, all through the red button.  With all the amazing things that you can do with the red button, it sometimes can be slow and unresponsive, and possibly could freeze, which can be annoying for the audience. Even though the red button offers all the amazing extra content, hardly anyone uses it, which is annoying for the institution since they wasted a lot of money adding that extra feature. Even if they are losing money, only big companies go to them so that they can be branded more, which lets the institution get more money.

INTERNET

This is when companies make their own original content, and their content is only exclusive to a channel that they make, You can be able to watch it, whenever you have internet access, but if not you will not be able to access the channel. Companies such as Netflix and WWE              make their own original content, such as how WWE has the WWE network, and has their own content put just on there such as "Table For Three", "Breaking Ground", etc, and how Netflix have their own original content such as "Orange Is The New Black", "The Seven Deadly Sins" and more. They release their original content on their programs before releasing it anywhere else. Through the internet, the audience can use these programs anywhere where their is internet access, on multiple devices, and can watch a variety of content in high quality. Even though they have a variety of content you can watch, they don't always have the ones you want, such as how Netflix doesn't have every show and movie for their audience to watch, which can be disappointing for the audience. The institution has their audience members very limited, as elderly people tend not to get their programs. Some people tend to stream programs for free on illegal websites, mainly because they don't want to pay the fee for the program, which again limits the audience for the institution.

HIGH DEFINITION (HD) 

High Definition, also known as "HD" makes images come through on your TV a lot more clearer
than it would usually do, and you are able to see more on your screen on a HD TV than a normal TV, since HD TVs have more pixels than normal ones. Companies such as Sky ,Fox and ITV do this because they use this for higher quality pictures, for their audience. The audience has a variety of advantages, using High Definition for their TVs, such as, when watching TV, there is better quality sound, and there is better quality video as well, HD also adapts to wide screen TVs as well, which makes the experience of using HD even better. To be able to use HD you have to buy all the right equipment to use it, and that costs a lot of money to do. By letting users have HD, the institution can brand better, such as how Sky says "glorious HD" on their adverts. Having HD can be very good for the institution, but unfortunately, they can not be able to make, every show to be HD, such as how on Sky1 some episodes of "The Simpsons" is in HD, yet others are not. which can seem unfortunate for the audience, as they pay for HD yet not every show is in HD.

STREAMING CONTENT (LIVE)

Streaming content is when there is a live broadcast over the internet, that multiple people around the world can watch while it is happening at the same time and usually they start watching when the content begins, and stop watching when the content ends. The wrestling company named UFC has something they call "UFC fast pass" which allows people to stream UFC's content whenever they want. Companies that do this, do it mainly for entertainment reasons, which helps expand their audience. When watching something live, it helps engage the audience more, as they enjoy the feeling of watching a event live, and it is also free to use, which is always an advantage for the audience. You can be able to watch streams on multiple devices, around your home, which means multiple people are allowed to do it, but the problem about this is that it takes up a lot of data. By streaming content, the institution  can get more viewers, as people like to watch something live, but the thing is, the institution need a audience to do the live stream, since there is no point streaming content, when nobody is watching.

ON DEMAND VIEWERS 

This is when you are able to watch any TV program whenever you want, it does not just show content at certain times, but allows you to chose to watch whatever you want, at any time, they also make their own original content for people to watch, which they can also watch whenever they want. Examples of services that do this are, Netflix and BBCiPlayer, because they offer a variety of original content that you watch whenever you want. The audience can be able to watch television programs on many devices around their home, and can watch it whenever and wherever they want. To be able to access this, there is a payment that the audience need to make, also they need a certain technology to use it, which means they have to pay for both the technology and the service, which makes them lose money. The institution can be able to see what their audience is watching, which might make them improve, and try to work more on what exactly that their audience is watching, and they can offer more on the internet than they can on TV.

DIGITAL RECORDERS 

Digital recorders are devices that allow people to be able to record video on to a digital disk, which allows them to save that video and be able to watch it whenever they want. An example of a service that does this is Sky+, mainly because that they record videos and save it on their device so that you can be able to watch it. You can shows watch whenever you want, but your TV can switch off while you are watching and recording something, which could lead to your show being half recorded, which could get annoying to some audience members, as while they are watching a show, they find out that it didn't record all the way through. When watching something recorded, you can skip through annoying adverts, that you don't want to watch, and can easily just get to your show. It is very easy to use, and anyone can do it, you can also be able to record multiple programs at the same time, which can be convenient. Because of this the institution can get more money, but sometimes they can receive some complaints from their audience, as sometimes their service does not work.

PAYPERVIEW 

This is when you pay to watch a specific type of content that appears at a certain time, and it allows you to watch it live while it is actually happening. UFC and WWE do PayPerViews frequently every month, where they make their audience pay an amount to be able to watch certain content live, PayPerViews are very good for the audience, since there are no adverts and you can watch it live, but when watching it your TV could possibly turn off, and you might be missing something that you might want to watch, which can get frustrating. PayPerViews only play for a limited amount of time, and sometimes it could seem as a waste of money, as you don't always expect if the PayPerView would be worth the money you are paying, such as how most UFC matches cost a lot of money to watch, yet their matches usually last less than 4 minutes, sometimes less than 10 seconds, which makes the audience feel like they wasted a lot of money, but with all the money that they pay, the institution can get extra money, and they have lots of advertising options, and many companies would be willing to be sponsored by their PayPerViews, such as how WWE always sponsor the drink "Mountain Dew" on their PayPerView's.

8.2 Working Patterns

SHIFT WORK

Shift work is a type of work schedule where people rotate through certain times each day, they do the same job but at different periods. An example of a job that uses shift work is in news studios such as the BBC which is 24/7,  as everyone that works there like the producers, camera operators etc. takes turns with other people throughout the day. The reason that they do shift working throughout the day is that it deals with time zones around the world. For example the BBC is a company that is known worldwide, so it would have people working for them in multiple areas around the world, in different time zones. This means different people will be awake at different times and by using multiple people around the world, they will always have someone to do the job. By doing certain jobs at certain times it could lead to you being paid an extra amount of money because you may have to work unsociable hours. Even though this will be a convenience to the employee earning extra money, having to pay extra money wouldn't be very good for the employer as it would obviously lead to the employer losing more money. By making the employee work at a certain time it could lead to them becoming very tired; the employee could have to work very late which could mess with their body clock. 

FIXED TERM CONTRACT

A fixed term contract is a type of contract that has a fixed length of time, such as a contract starting and ending on a certain date and time. Everybody in the film industry has a fixed term contract, such as the producer, actor, animator, etc. The reason why they all work on a fixed term contract is because they are all working on the same project, so it would make sense that they all have the same kind of contract. This could be very useful as you could simply just get someone when you actually need them, and you can hire people for a fixed amount of time. This is the main reason why employers do this, as it can be very convenient and saves money. Fixed term contracts can be very useful for the employee as they could take time off whenever they want to, this would let them be able to work in different places, giving them a variety of choices of jobs. If one person doesn't finish a certain job that they were hired to do by the end of their contract, this will make the product unfinished and wouldn't be good for the employer as they might need to hire another person to complete the job. This could be very confusing because they wouldn't be as familiar with the product as the previous worker.

OFFICE HOURS

Office hours are working hours that usually run from 9am to 5pm with a lunch break midway through the day. An example of a job that does office hours are financial sectors, mainly because they do paperwork and also they can complete this at any time. People would want to do office hours mainly because that it is a really fast moving environment, which some people would enjoy working with. Office hours are very good for the employee since they don't always have to worry about their work, since they can simply just leave their work behind them at the end of the day, helping lower stress for them. Employees can also work around your office hours and that lets you be able to have some free time, which again lowers stress for the employee. Even though office hours can be very beneficial for the employee, the employer might have some issues with it. Firstly, there is not much flexibility with office hours, meaning that they is less freedom with working around personal schedules. There is usually a lot of work to do most of the time, and employers have a lot of responsibility, which could be frustrating and stressful for them.

FREELANCE
Freelance means a person is self employed and also works for other companies on a particular project, such as how news workers are called by companies when they are required. Examples of jobs that do freelance are camera operators, make up artists and editors. Industries do this when they only need people for a certain amount of time because they won't always need a certain person during the filming process. When employees are only needed for a certain amount of time, they can go when their job is done, allowing them to be able to work for another company. This helps give more variety of jobs for them to do. Freelance lets people move around from place to place, which again gives them more freedom of jobs to chose from. Freelance jobs can seem very convenient to the employees but the employer can easily replace them with someone that is more skilled, and that will lead to the employee losing their job. Freelance jobs are very good for the employer since they can simply just hire people when they actually need them, other than paying them for when they are not needed. Employers can lose a lot of very good workers that they might have wanted to keep, but didn't have the control to make them stay mainly because the employee can leave whenever they want to.

IRREGULAR PATTERNS

Irregular patterns are basically a working pattern where the hours change very frequently. An example of a job that uses irregular patterns would be news worker as they are called by the employer when they are needed. A reason why people would want to do this is because they don't have set hours that they are required to work for, therefore giving the employee quite a lot of free time and being convenient for the employee to work around their personal schedule. These types of jobs have extra pay for the employee and they get more money from this than they would get from another working pattern. Even though these type of jobs can seem convenient to some people, these jobs could take up some free time for the employee and could mess up their system. The employer can have people available whenever they need them, which is very convenient for them and they also have control on how many hours their employees can work. As a consequence, they could burn out their workers meaning that they could make them too tired and not able to work anymore. This could lead to people complaining at the employer because of this reason and these employees would need to be replaced.

HOURLY RATES

Hourly rates is when you get paid for every hour that you work. It is a rate a employee agrees to, to get paid every hour. Also some people get salaries which is when they get paid each year. There are many employees that get paid per hour worked because of hourly rates, such as set designers and camera operators. They get paid for every hour that they work which is very convenient and that will help them become more motivated to work more hours; the more hours they work, the more money they earn. This is also good for the employer since the employer will have more work completed. The employer only has to pay their workers for the hours that they have worked which could save more money, but then you still have the pay your employees for extra time, which could end up with you losing some money.

PIECE WORK
Piece work is when a worker is paid a certain amount for a piece that they make, such as a prop for a movie. Jobs that require piece work are prop makers and costume designers, as film makers will pay them a certain amount of money to make a custom prop or costume for their film. This could end up being very good for the employee because they could end up earning more than they would if they were to work office hours for instance. On the other hand, a certain prop or costume might take a long time to make and they won't get paid more for any extra time taken to make the product. An example of this may be that one prop has taken a week to make, but that same prop has taken longer at a different time. However, they would not get paid any extra for the extra time spent because they are paid per item, not per hour. A reason why someone would want to do this job is that you can get paid a lot of money for making props for films, which could be very useful for the employee. The employee can be very creative when making their props or costumes and that could be enjoyable for them, since they would be doing something they enjoy. You can make something very unique that would stand out from others, which could give credibility for both the employee and the employer. The employer can get whatever they want, such as if you need someone to make a specific design for you, you just have to simply pay them to make it, and they will usually work on it straight away. But by doing this, getting someone to make your costume or prop could be very expensive. 

9.2a Job Sectors And Rolls

8.1b Funding